Landing gears are known that are pivotally mounted on an aircraft structure to move between a retracted position and a deployed position, the landing gear being stabilized in the deployed position by a brace member including at least one folding strut having two hinged-together links that, when the landing gear is in the deployed position, are held substantially in mutual alignment by a stabilizer member, itself comprising two hinged-together links that are likewise held substantially in mutual alignment by a locking member.
The strut is attached firstly to the leg of the landing gear and secondly to the structure of the aircraft, while the stabilizer member is attached firstly to the strut and secondly to the leg, or to the structure of the aircraft.
It is known to cause the landing gear to move by means firstly of a raising actuator, e.g. an actuator coupled to the leg of the landing gear, and secondly by an unlocking actuator serving to counter the locking member.
Thus, starting from the deployed position, the unlocking actuator is actuated first and it acts against the locking member so as to force the two links of the stabilizer member to move out of alignment, thereby consequently forcing the two links of the strut to move out of alignment. When moved out of alignment in this way, they can no longer oppose raising of the landing gear driven by the action of the raising actuator. Thus, raising such a landing gear requires two actuators.
Landing gears having folding struts are also known in which the two links of the strut are stabilized in an aligned position by means of return springs that keep the links in an aligned position that is defined by an internal abutment between the two links. In this type of landing gear, it is known to cause the landing gear to be raised by using a single actuator that acts on that one of the links that is hinged to the structure of the aircraft. The actuator causes the associated link to turn against the return springs. As it continues to turn, it causes the landing gear to move under drive from the links that, although out of alignment, continue to be connected to each other. Thus, the same actuator unlocks and raises the landing gear.
Nevertheless, such a configuration is suitable only for landing gears that do not include a member for stabilizing the alignment. In a landing gear having a folding strut that is stabilized by a stabilizer member itself having two links, the lifting actuator attached to one of the links of the strut is not capable of moving the links of the stabilizer member out of alignment, thereby preventing any movement of the landing gear.